The Database Consultant Helps the Small Business Owner Make Use of the Latest Technology

The database consultant and the small business owner can work together to solve company problems or to expand for new growth. By making use of the latest technology, owners are reducing their costs in several important areas. Inventory control is one of those important areas.

Thankfully, the days of handwritten inventories are mostly behind us. Depending on the items you stock, it may still be necessary to physically count a few items. But with the labels available today it should be possible to scan them electronically. Let the computer do the counting for you.

Barcodes were a major advancement for retail industries. There are still a few smaller older businesses that manage to do without them, but they are the exceptions rather than the norm.

Business analysts believe that barcodes will soon become a thing of the past. They will be replaced by radio frequency identification tags or RFID tags. The advantages of using RFID technology for inventory control are several. The tags can accurately be scanned from longer distances. Some tags transmit signals continuously, an invaluable tool for mobile inventories, such as livestock or vehicles.

The computer chip inside of the tag can store a variety of information. The vendor and the date the item was received, the cost, price and profit margin are examples of information that can be stored in the chip.

A database consultant can help you determine if RFID technology is the right choice for your small business. It's a matter of weighing the costs and benefits.

If you happen to be a wholesale vendor interested in government contracts or selling items to large retailers, investing in RFID technology is absolutely essential. Departments of the US government and retailers like Wal-Mart have required that all vendors place RFID tags on all shipments for several years now.

RFID tagging is the most accurate and effective inventory tracking, supply chain management tool of the day, but not every small business needs it. Your company might benefit more from GPS tracking or a combination of RFID and GPS.

A database consultant can help you decide which kind of technology is right for your company by asking questions. Some small business owners are suspicious or annoyed by all of the questions asked by consultants.

Actually, you should be suspicious if the database consultant does not ask a lot of questions. The value of consulting with an expert is to customize your system. It is impossible for consultants to customize without asking questions.